By Fr Stephan Alexander
General Manager, CCSJ/AMMR
On Tuesday, March 5 someone sent me a reel (a short video) that was shared via the TTT Live Online Instagram page. The reel showed the recently deceased Jaheem Diaz, a fruit vendor from St Paul Street, Port of Spain, who was “gunned down on the corner of Duke and Charlotte streets POS” that afternoon.
It was captured immediately before the arrival of the police at the scene and Jaheem’s lifeless body was on the ground, uncovered. Although only 44 seconds long, the video provided enough footage for viewers to recognise pedestrians and motorists navigating their way around Jaheem’s body in the same manner as one would swerve to avoid a pothole.
Commentary from passersby, and perhaps from the person who captured the video, could be heard. “Charlotte Street, ah man now geh bullet dey. Ah man now geh bullet dey” was the statement that alerted viewers to what they were seeing. Seconds later, the maker of that statement seemed to chuckle at the realisation that motorists were driving around the body of the deceased man. There was no real alarm in the voices that were heard in the video.
No screams, cries, elevated voices, or visible signs of frantic action on a street that is usually characterised as chaotic. The commentator’s initial statement gave a sense of concern and perhaps a hint of exasperation though the accompanying laugh and overall tone suggested a certain normalcy in respect of the unfolding events.
Perhaps his chuckle was a nervous reaction to the fact that most passersby didn’t stop, assist, or even look at the body on the ground. They appeared unbothered and merely went about their business as if nothing had occurred until someone began redirecting traffic.
The person who sent me the reel accompanied it with the question, “Is it me or are the citizens around very unbothered?” There was confusion and pain in that question as the person sought to reconcile the loss of human life with the lack of response from commuters.
In reflecting on the question and the video, I felt deeply for Jaheem (may his soul rest in peace), his family (may God grant them grace and consolation), and all the persons who were exposed to the trauma of his death—immediately or remotely. My sense wasn’t that people were unbothered but that we have been overly traumatised by exposure to violent crime and other systemic and societal ills that we no longer know how to respond.
Persons who experience trauma need a safe space and community support to process their trauma and heal from it. This is because “healing does not happen in individual silos”. It comes through relationships and “happens when we have a community upon which we can count”.
Healthy relationships are healing. Hence, “the ways we connect with one another and care for one another in our communities is the catalyst for the change we seek” in ourselves and our communities. “Community care is the answer!”
Yet we live in a society where community is not what it once was, and society doesn’t provide easy access to structures to aid in our healing. Therefore, access to safe spaces in our communities is lacking in our society.
Hence, the appearance of nonchalance or being unbothered has become a coping mechanism and the main way in which many of us process our emotions and deal with our trauma.
Sadly, this way of dealing with our issues has convinced many of us that we are okay and not in need of healing. However, healing won’t come until we own our brokenness and as we learnt in my last article, healing is a social justice issue.
Treating our traumas and hurts “allows us to repair both our community and the family unit, which suffer because of intergenerational, institutional, and systemic trauma. This is where we start to recognise that self-care is the bridge to community-care, and community-care is the bridge to community healing.
When we care for ourselves by challenging our own oppressive ideologies, we are simultaneously caring for others by engaging less in harmful behaviours, challenging our biases, and allowing others to take up space without the fear that our voices will be silenced if we pass the mic.”
We must all work together to create safe spaces where each of us can take responsibility for our own healing within the midst of a supportive community.
Know that the Church in our Archdiocese is working to provide greater access to such a community. Work has been ongoing towards the establishment of a Centre for Healing, Well-being and Restorative Justice.
While not yet finalised, this project is envisaged to be a safe space for persons experiencing trauma to access preventative, and curative services. “Preventative by providing training as appropriate and needed. Curative by offering and providing services of healing.”
It will also provide ongoing education and formation in becoming a trauma sensitive environment and community. Hopefully, through resources like these and the re-establishment of community, the healing necessary for our people will be available.
